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‘I could never shoot my wife’- SAYS POP-SINGER GENE

(DAILY MIRROR)
(24 September 1963)

Newspaper photograph

By DON SHORT

AMERICAN pop singer Gene Vincent, 28, talked last night of love and jealousy - and of the night he accused his London-born wife at gunpoint of having an affair.

Earlier, Gene had been fined £20 at London’s Marylebone Court for possessing two pistols and ammunition without a licence.

He was given a conditional discharge for a year on a charge of threatening his 28-year-old wife with a Luger pistol.

Gene and Margaret, pictured above, later kissed and made-up before going, hand-in-hand, to a BBC recording session.

Gene, real name Gene Vincent Craddock, told me: “The trouble began last week when I was in Hamburg. Friends told me of rumours linked with Margaret when we were last there.

“When I came back to London I questioned her. I felt as savage as any man can when he hears about such a thing.

Explaining that he had two guns, one a Luger, “knocking about” his flat in Notting Hill, Gene went on:

“But I could never have pulled the trigger. I could never have murdered her. I love her too much. I did it just to scare her.

“Now I know the rumours about her are untrue. Margaret is innocent-and she has forgiven me for my fit of jealousy.”

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Singer who pointed gun at wife says ‘She forgives me’

(DAILY MAIL)
(24 September 1963)

Newspaper photograph

By RICHARD WHITEHEAD

GENE VINCENT, the American pop singer, spoke last night about the row which ended with him threatening his British wife, Margaret, with a Luger pistol.

He said: “Margaret and I have made it up. She has forgiven me for pointing the gun at her.

“Of course I never had any intention of shooting her. She knows that.”

Earlier the 28-year-old singer-real name Gene Vincent Craddock-limped on crutches from Marylebone Court arm-in-arm with his wife after he had been fined £20 for possessing two pistols and ammunition without a licence and being conditionally discharged for a year on a charge of assaulting her.

The pistols were confiscated.

Easy to discharge
Vincent’s left foot was injured in an accident when he was in the U.S.Navy. Three years ago he was badly injured in a car crash in Wiltshire in which another American singer, Eddie Cochran, was killed.

In court magistrate Mr. Walter Frampton told him: “You had five cartridges in the magazine of this Luger which is a pretty easy weapon to discharge.

“If you had lost your head and gone on to press the trigger, you might have found yourself facing a more serious charge.”

The couple, who have an eight-month-old daughter, Sherri Anne, quarrelled at their flat in Lansdowne-road, Notting Hill, after Vincent had returned from a concert engagement in Hamburg.

Mr. David Jacobs, Vincent’s counsel, told the court: “Unfortunately, when he was appearing on the Continent he had certain remarks made to him by other parties relating to his domestic affairs.

“As a result certain domestic difficulties arose, ‘which resulted in the conduct you have just heard of.’”

While his wife went to arrange furnishings for a new flat they plan to move into, Vincent said last night: “When I got home we had a row. I pointed the gun at her just to scare her.

“I’m a crack shot and I’ve won medals for shooting. But I don’t think I could shoot a person.

My collection
“I was going to add the guns to my firearms collection at my place in New Mexico. I have eight or nine guns there. Now Margaret and I just want to forget the whole affair.”

Police told the court that the loaded Luger was found under a mattress after Vincent’s wife had phoned them for help.

Vincent was said to have admitted to a policeman that he pointed the gun at his wife, adding: “Stupidly and ignorantly I pulled it just like any other jealous husband. Wouldn’t you?”

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Two-gun Gene’s jealousy

(DAILY EXPRESS)
(24 September 1963)

Newspaper photograph

POP SINGER THREATENED WIFE AFTER TOUR By RONALD BURNS

AMERICAN pop singer Gene Vincent sat in his London flat yesterday and said: “I hope my fans remember my name is Gene Vincent and not Gene Autry.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Vincent had just been fined £20 for having two pistols and ammunition without a licence.

On another charge of assaulting his wife Margaret, 28, he was conditionally discharged for a year.

Magistrates at Marylebone were told that police were called to Vincent’s house in Lansdowne-road, Notting Hill, on Saturday.

Police called
A detective spoke to his wife, who told him Vincent had threatened her with a revolver.

Later Vincent said he had pulled out the gun “just like any other jealous husband.”

Vincent’s counsel, Mr. David Jacobs, said that while Vincent was appearing on the Continent, “other parties” had made remarks to him about his domestic affairs.

Mr. Jacobs went on: “As a result certain domestic difficulties arose which resulted in the conduct you have just hear of.”

Vincent-real name Gene Vincent Craddock-left the court with his wife.

Later, at their flat, he said: “There’s no question of Margaret and I splitting up. We’ve been married a year and we have a beautiful little daughter Sherri Ann.

“We’re both pretty crazy about her.

“The trouble was I listened to some of my alleged friends while I was on tour in Germany. I know better now. There wasn’t a word of truth in what they said.”

Expert shot
The guns?

Vincent said: “While I was in the U.S. Navy I was a crack marksman. I have a collection of guns at home in New Mexico and the guns in this case were given to me by friends in Germany for that collection.

“I guess I just brandished one in a moment of temper.”

Vincent still walks with the help of sticks, the result of a car crash in 1960 in which rock ‘n’ roll star Eddie Cochran was killed.

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Vincent begins ‘blitz’

(Early 1963)

AT long last Gene Vincent has been accepted as a British resident! The Capitol recording star from Norfolk, Virginia, will recommence dates here almost immediately to begin his planned “blitz on Britain.”

Radio and television appearances for him are being planned.

A few days after his return from a tour of France, Gene-resting at his new Welling (Kent) home-learned at the weekend that his application to work here had finally been approved.

His manager and agent, Don Arden, immediately set about booking dates for him which will be announced shortly. Recording sessions are expected almost immediately.

But a gap must be left in his itinerary for a second operation on his injured leg.

Among the contracts being negotiated for Gene is one by which he is expected to play Sunday concerts for promoter Arthur Howes in seaside resorts this summer. But August must be kept clear-Gene has been rebooked in France for the complete month.

Vincent’s French tour was hailed as one of the country’s most successful ever by a rock ‘n’ roll artist.

But again Gene narrowly avoided tragedy. He missed a train in Paris only to learn later that it had been derailed with the loss of three lives.

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